The effect of anchoring has been demonstrated in melodies
by Bharucha (1984).
Recall that
Krumhansl and Kessler
found that,
in a given key context, the most stable tone is the tonic,
followed by the other tones of the tonic triad,
followed by the remaining scale tones, followed by the
non-scale tones.
In the perception of melodies, less stable tones tend
to become anchored to more stable tones that are close in pitch.
For example, in the key of C major, the pitch D has a tendency
to be anchored to either the neighboring C or E.
Similarly, the pitch D# has a tendency to be anchored to
the neared more stable pitch E.
See also
prototype,
schema,focal stimulus,tonal hierarchy.

Any
frequency
audible to the human ear.
The range of audio frequencies is usually considered to lie
in the region between 20 hertz and 20,000 hertz.
However, the specific range of audio frequencies varies
considerably from person to person -- varying especially
with respect to age.
See also
frequency.

In Muzak for workplaces,
the stimulus level of the music changes over the course
of the day to compensate for the
Burris-Meyer and Cardinell fatigue curves.
Specifically, the stimulus level of the music increases
during those parts of the day when efficiency is typically
lowest.

Unit of
pitch
distance (or
interval)
corresponding to 1/100th of a
semitone.
A unit of measure introduced in the late 19th century by Alexander Ellis,
and frequently used in studies of non-Western music.
There are 1200 cents in an
octave).
One cent corresponds to a frequency ratio
of the 1200th root of 2.

In musical terms, critical bands are roughly a minor third in size
in the vicinity of middle C and above.
In log frequency terms, critical bands get larger as the register
descends below middle C.
The following notation indicates the approximate size of critical
bands according to tessitura.

It is important to understand that the
notated pitches represent
pure tones
rather than
complex tones.
As pure tones, each tone activates a region of the basilar
membrane roughly one millimeter distant from the neighboring tones.
From Huron (2001).

A group of drugs that reduce inhibitions and that
generally lower metabolic
arousal.
The most common depressants include alcohol,
barbiturates, cannabis (marijuana and hashish)
and antihistamines.
Depressants tend to increase a listener's
receptiveness to emotions evoked by music.
Moderate consumption of alcohol tends to increase the likelihood
that an individual will engage in dancing or will
sing along with the music.
Continued alcohol consumption will tend to increase the
likelihood of experiencing nostalgia or sadness.
The caricature of the weeping drunk singing a familiar
song is not inaccurate.
See also
stimulants,arousal,epinephrine,synesthesia.

When listening to
Shepards tones,
the interval of the tritone is theoretically ambiguous
as to whether it is heard ascending or descending.
Diana Deutsch
discovered that for many listeners,
certain tritones tend to be heard as predominantly
ascending and others as descending.
For example, a listener might hear the D-G# tritone
as ascending, while hearing the F-B tritone as
descending.
Such listeners can be characterized by the position
on the chroma circle where the tritone is heard
to switch direction.

Curiously, Deutsch discovered that the position of
switching in the chroma circle appears to be
related to the cultural background of the listener.
This effect has been replicated by
Bruno Repp
with American, British, and Dutch listeners.

The Deutsch Tritone Effect can be accounted for
by Terhardt's model of pitch perception.
Terhardt argues that pitch perceptions are
learned due to exposure to complex harmonic tones.
The spectral dominance region for different
listeners will depend on their past listening
experiences (especially during infancy).
Since vowels in different cultures differ in
their harmonic content, the spectral dominance
region may be expected to shift according to
the listener's cultural background.

A presumed
listening mode
that arises when the listener is mentally keeping a
leger of faults or problems.
A high-fidelity buff may note problems in sound reproduction.
A conservatory teacher may note mistakes in execution,
problems of intonation, ensemble balance, phrasing, etc.
A composer is apt to identify what might be considered lapses
of skill or instances of poor musical judgment.

The epitome of a
prototype.
A focal stimulus is the single best examplar of something.
Levitin (1996) has shown that possessors of
absolute pitch
do not perceive pitches categorically.
When asked: what is the best A4, AP-possessors will judge
a frequency of 440 Hz as better than 435 Hz or 445 Hz.
As the frequency of the stimulus more closely approaches
440 Hz, AP-possessors judge the tone as "a better `A'".
Focal stimuli are "ideal" examples of something.

An experience, commonly associated with
especially moving or
ecstatic listening
moments, where a sensation of "shivers" occurs.
The frisson experience begins as a flexing of the skin in the lower back,
rising upward, inward from the shoulders, up the neck,
and sometimes across to the cheeks and onto the scalp.
The face may become flush, hair follicles flex the hairs into standing position,
and goose bumps may appear (piloerection).
Frequently, a series of `waves' will rise up the back in rapid succession.
The experience lasts no more than four or five seconds.
The listener feels the music to have elicited an ecstatic moment
and tends to regard the experience as involuntary.
See also
ecstatic listening,topical behaviors.

Functional music has been designed to increase
worker productivity; to reduce
anxiety
in elevators, hospitals, and aircraft;
to mask noises and contribute to a pleasant atmosphere
in retail and restaurant environments.
There are even special functional music programs
intended to be used in stables in order to calm race horses.
See also
crowding perceptions,
Muzak for workplaces.

(Noun:)
Harmonically-related (or nearly harmonically related)
frequencies are called harmonics.
Harmonics are of special interest because of
some unique auditory properties.
Many natural vibrators oscillate such that they
produce several harmonics simultaneously.
For example, if the first harmonic (or
fundamental)
of some complex tone is of frequency 200 Hz,
subsequent harmonics might be of frequencies 400, 600, 800,
1000, 1200 Hz, etc. -- called the
harmonic series.
Compare
inharmonic,
pseudo-harmonic.

The unit of
frequency,
defined as the number of
cycles
or complete oscillations per second.
The unit is named after the German scientist Heinrich Hertz.
It is abbreviated using an upper-case initial letter (Hz)
and is written in full using an lower-case initial letter (hertz).

One of four classic musical
textures
in which the music is based on two or more
versions of a melody or line played concurrently.
Heterophony is often likened to a musical "braid"
in which several different renditions of the same
melody are sounded simultaneously.
Commonly, a heterophonic texture is created by
a single vocalist and one or more instrumentalists
embellishing the same musical line.
Heterophony is uncommon in Western music.
Many examples can be found in the music of north Africa
and the Middle East.
See also
monophony,
homophony,
polyphony.

Simpson and Huron (1994)
showed that musicians posessing
absolute pitch respond in a way consistent with the
Hick-Hyman law.
When asked to respond as quickly as possible,
the fastest responses times are for notes like C and G (which
occur frequently in music), and more slowly for notes
like F and B (which occur less frequently in music).
The slowest responses occur for rarely occuring pitches,
like A# and D#.
The response time is proportional to the information
content of the pitches -- indicating the absolute pitch
is a learned phenomenon.
See
absolute pitch.

Partial
components of a
complex tone
may be characterized according to the degree to which
their frequencies conform with the
harmonic series
of
overtones.
harmonics;
partials that vaguely correspond are called
pseudo-harmonics;
partials that are clearly different are called
inharmonics.
Inharmonicity is a descriptive term applied to the
cumulative effect of inharmonic components --
the greater the inharmonicity, the greater the
"clangorousness" of the sound.

Carol Krumhansl
and Ed Kessler used the
probe tone technique
to study the nature of tonality.
Krumhansl and Kessler (1982) played a key-defining context
consisting of an ascending (major or harmonic minor) scale,
or a key-defining chord progression.
After each repetition of the key-defining passage,
a different tone was played and listeners were asked to
judge how well the tone fit.
Krumhansl and Kessler found a distinctive and stable
pattern of response for the major and minor keys.
In both modes, the tonic pitch was rated most highly,
and non-scale tones were rated the lowest.
More specifically, a four-level hierarchy was evident
for both the major and minor keys:
(1) the most important pitch is the tonic,
(2) followed by the remaining tones of the tonic triad
(i.e. dominant and mediant pitches),
(3) followed by the other notes belonging to the scale,
(4) followed by the non-scale tones.

The algorithm works as follows.
Without regard for enharmonic spellings,
all pitch-classes in the passage are counted resulting in 12 values.
For example, a passage may contain 14 C's, 2 C#'s, 8 D's, and so on.
These 12 values are then correlated with the major key profile
where C is deemed the tonic.
Similarly, the
12 values are then correlated with the minor key profile
where C is deemed the tonic.
The process is repeated for all possible tonics: C-sharp/D-flat, D, D-sharp/E-flat, E,
etc.
After correlations have been calculated for all 24 major and minor pitch-class keys,
the estimated key for the passage is given by the largest positive correlation.

The key estimations arising from the
Krumhansl
and Kessler
algorithm tend to reflect tonality judgements made by listeners
hearing the same passage.
The algorithm appears to be about 85% correct for common musical passages.

A lullaby (or cradle song) is a song intended to lull or pacify
an infant by reducing the infant's level of
arousal.
Lullabies exhibit many of the features found in
infant-directed (ID) speech.
Unyk,
Trehub,
Trainor
and
Schellenberg (1992) carried out a
study in which 28 recorded lullabies from a wide variety
of cultures were matched with 28 non-lullaby songs from the
same cultures.
Unyk et al found the average pitch of the lullabies
to be higher, and the number of changes of direction in
pitch contour to be fewer.
In addition, compared with the non-lullaby songs,
the lullabies tended to employ a greater proportion
of descending pitch intervals -- consistent with the descending
pitch contours prevalent in "soothing speech."

The phenomenon was dubbed the
Mondegreen Effect by Jon Carroll
who misheard the lyrics for the folk ballad
"The Earl O'Moray:"

Oh, ye highlands and ye lowlands,
Oh, where have ye been?
They have slain the Earl of Moray
And Lady Mondegreen.

In fact, the correct lyrics for the final two lines are:

They have slain the Earl of Moray
And laid him on the green.

Steven Pinker
(1994) has identified a number of other
examples of the Mondegreen effect, including:

A girl with colitis goes by.
[A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
From the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."]

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes are
wrapped and stored.
[... grapes of wrath are stored.
From "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."]

It is likely that Mondegreen effects also occur
in mis-hearing rhythms, meters, timbres, and harmonies.
However, most listeners are unaware of situations
where they are hearing a musical passage in a way
that departs from how the composer (or other listeners)
hear the passage.

While many cultural differences are evident,
listeners nevertheless show a cross-cultural similarity when
characterizing the moods evoked by various musical works --
including sadness, exhuberance, etc.

Mood regulation (i.e. changing or enhancing moods) is
possibly the most common "use" of recorded or broadcast
music.
Thayer (1996) found that roughly 50% of respondents
use music to temper or eliminate a bad mood.
See
Thayer's model of moods.

A musical term denoting an
interval
of
pitch
between two pitches whose
frequencies
are related in the approximate ratio of 2:1.
Since exact octaves are frequently not always precisely
related by a 2:1 frequency ratio,
psychoacousticians have also defined the octave as
the pitch interval between two tones such that one tone
is perceived as duplicating the basic musical import
of the other tone at the nearest possible higher or
lower pitch.
(American National Standards Institute,
Psychoacoustical Terminology, S3.20, 1973; p.34).
See also
cent,
semitone.

Octave-spaced tones are often used as a simple
way of approximating
Shepards tones.
Octave spaced tones differ from Shepards tones
in that the amplitudes for all of the partials are
equivalent.
See also
Shepards tone.

2. The term overtone has frequently been used
interchangeably with
harmonic --
meaning a simple frequency component of a complex tone
which is an integer multiple of some given
fundamental frequency.
The fundamental frequency (or simply "fundamental")
is also called the first harmonic,
but is not called an overtone.
The second harmonic is referred to as the first overtone,
the third harmonic is called the second overtone, and so on.

A feature found in the
auditory evoked potential
as measured in an
electroencephalogram.
When a sound is heard, the near simultaneous firing of millions
of neurons can be recorded.
The fluctuations of voltage display a stereotypic behavior for
the first half second or so.
The first positive peak in the electroencephalogram is referred to as "P1";
The first negative trough in the electroencephalogram is referred to as "N1".
The third positive peak (P3) occurs roughly 300 milliseconds after the onset
of the sound.
P3 has been shown to correlate with important subjective phenomena.
When P3 occurs especially soon (so-called "early P3"),
it has been shown that listeners are more likely have paid attention
to the sound.
That is, occurrences of early P3 indicate
orienting responses
characteristic of moments of
passive attention.
See
auditory evoked potential.

When exposed to a simple 80 dB sine tone,
individuals who score high on non-socialized sensation seeking
are more likely to respond with
bradycardic heart response.
By contrast, those individuals who score low on
non-socialized sensation seeking
are more likely to experience a
tachycardic heart response.

Two
periodic
functions may be identical in all respects except that
corresponding points of their
cycles
are offset in time.
The amount of offset may be measured in seconds or
milliseconds,
however phase offsets are more commonly measured in radians
or degrees,
where 2 radians or 360 degrees is considered one full cycle.
When the phase offset of two identical functions is
180 degrees, they are said to be out of phase.
Their summation will result in total cancellation of the
sound function.

A type of broad-band noise.
Pink noise may be considered a unique type of
white noise.
Like white noise, pink noise contains all frequencies
within a specified range
(usually the entire audible range).
However, the noise within each musical interval
(for example, within the interval of an
octave)
is present in equal
amplitudes.
Hence the total amplitude for the range 100 Hz to 200 Hz
is the same as for the range 800 Hz to 1600 Hz.
Compared with white noise,
pink noise has greater power in the lower frequency range.

Compared with non-prototypic stimuli, prototypic stimuli are
more easily learned, remembered, and recalled.
When presented with a sequence of stimuli (such as a list of birds),
subjects are more likely to recall the pesence of a prototypic
stimulus, are more likely to (falsely) report that an absent prototype
was present, and are more likely to (falsely) report
that a present non-prototype was absent.
In addition, subjects are likely to judge that a non-prototypic
stimulus is more similar to a prototypic stimulus than vice versa.
For example, people tend to judge the color pink as being highly
similar to red; however, people tend to judge the color red as
being less similar to pink.

Listeners may well hold mental images of prototypic sounds --
such as the sound of a flute.
A flute is capable of producing a wide variety of sounds --
such as a harsh sound, flutter-tonguing, key-clicks, wide vibrato,
very high pitches, etc.
However, when we imagine a flute, we tend to conjure up a sound
that is somewhat sweet, with a light vibrato, centered in the
middle or lower registers.
Listeners also hold similar prototypic images for other
instruments, such as the trumpet, violin, piano, etc.

Overtones
for many naturally occuring sounds are often not
exactly
harmonic,
but nearly so.
For example, a
fundamental frequency
of 100 Hz might have overtone components at (say) 202 Hz,
298 Hz, 406 Hz, etc.
Such overtones are referred to as "pseudo-harmonically related",
or as "pseudo-harmonics".
Compare
harmonic,
inharmonic.

The tendency, in melodies, for large pitch
intervals
to be followed by a change of melodic direction.
For example, a large upward leap (sometimes defined as 6 or more
semitones)
tends to be followed
by a downward pitch motion.
This notion has been described by music theorists
since the Renaissance.
The term "registral return" was introduced by
Eugene Narmour.

Studies of large musical samples from around the world have shown
that there is indeed a tendency for large intervals to be
followed by a change of direction.
However,
Von Hippel and Huron (2000)
demonstrated that this phenomenon arises simply from constraints on
melodic range or tessitura.
Skips tend toward the extremes of a melody's tessitura,
and from those extremes a melody has little choice but
to retreat by changing direction.
See also
gap fill.

Unit of
pitch
distance (or
interval)
corresponding to the smallest scale distance
used in Western music.
There are 12 semitones in an
octave).
One semitone corresponds to a frequency ratio
of the 12th root of 2.
See also
cent.

A theory of
dissonance
which proposes that maximum unpleasantness arises between two
pure tones
when their points of maximum excitation on the basilar
membrane of the
cochlea
are separated by roughly 0.4 millimeters
(or 40% of a
critical band).
The unpleasantness drops to zero as the two tones approach
unison;
in addition, unpleasantness drops to a minimum as the frequency
difference between the tone pure tones exceeds a critical band.
The overall sensory dissonance for any sonority is the
aggregate sum of the interactions between
all of the concurrent partials.

The theory was first proposed by Donald Greenwood (1961)
and was independently advanced by Reiner Plomp and Pim Levelt (1965).
See also
masking,
consonance,
dissonance.

Originally, the illusion was thought to demonstrate the
intransitivity of pitch perception.
However, the illusion is now regarded as a demonstration
of the independence of pitch height and pitch chroma
in pitch perceptions.

A
complex tone
which evokes a sensation of pure
pitch chroma.
A specially constructed tone that contains
all audible octave partials.
The amplitudes of the partials are weighted so
that the extreme high and low partials have
the least energy.
Typically, the most energy is assigned to the
partial nearest to the spectral dominance
region for complex tones (i.e., near D#4).

For example, a Shepards tone might consist
of pure tones at the following frequencies:
50 Hz, 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 400 Hz, 800 Hz, 1,600 Hz, 3,200 Hz,
6,400 Hz, and 12,800 Hz.
The most intense of these partials would be the 400 Hz
component;
the amplitude for other partials decreases as the
frequency increases or decreases from 400 Hz.

A series of Shepards tones can be constructed so that
each has the same
pitch height,
and differs only with respect to
pitch chroma.
The tones permit a variety of illusions, such as
the
Shepards illusion
of constantly increasing
of constantly decreasing pitch.

A single audible
frequency,
also known as a "pure tone" or "simple tone"
in contrast to a
complex tone.
The sine tone takes its name from its distinctive
waveform
which may be derived from sinusoidal trigonometry
(Note: sinus is Latin for "fold" or "curve".)
One might expect sine tones to sound "simple" or "pure";
however, sine tones are better described as "dull" sounding.
Psychoacoustical Terminology, S3.20, 1973; p.12)

A presumed
listening mode
which is characterized by the listener
mentally "singing-along" with the music.
This mode of listening presupposes that the listener is already
familiar with the work.
Distinctive of this listening approach is a highly
linear
conception of the work
in which a replay of memory is synchronized with an actual rendition.
The listener's behavior is not unlike that of a recording which,
when started at any given point in the music, can continue forward to the end
of the work.

There is good evidence that stress and arousal
are physiologically distinguishable.
Stress is associated with high
cortisol levels.
Energy is associated with high
epinephrine levels.

Using Thayer's model of mood, it is possible to
characterize musical passages according to the
dimensions of energy and stress/tension.
For example, the exposition from Rossini's
William Tell Overture might be
characterized as exuberant and triumphant.
J.S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
might be characterized as serene and content.
The music from the shower scene in
Hitchcook's film Psycho
might be characterized as anxious or frantic.
And the opening of Stravinsky's Firebird
might be characterized as ominous and foreboding.
See also
epinephrine levels.
(Contrast
temperament.)
See
mood.

Cook (1987) carried out an experiment where
musical works were re-composed to end in
a different key.
For listeners without
absolute pitch
Cook found that a heightened sense of closure
occurred only for relatively short pieces.
For works longer than about 2 minutes,
musician listeners were unaware that the
work ended in a foreign key, and did not
perceive the coherence, pleasure, expressiveness
or closure as any less than the untransposed
versions.
See
closure,tonality.

The above graph shows tracking errors for three expert musicians
listening to Baroque
polyphony.
Solid columns: average error when judging
how many polyphonic voices are present.
Shaded columns: average error when identifying
the entries of new voices added to an existing texture.
After Huron (1989).
See also
stream
and
polyphony.

A demonstration of the influence of
timbre
on auditory
streaming.
Wessel's illusion involves playing an ascending
sequence of three pitches where the timbre is
alternately switched between two distinctive
tone colors.
As the tempo of the repeated pattern is increased
the perception of a rising pitch sequence is
replaced by two falling pitch sequences.

For any given task, there exists a rough optimum
arousal
level.
If the
tonic arousal
is too low or too high,
then performance of the task tends to become less efficient.
Yerkes and Dodson showed that the optimum tonic arousal level
depends on the complexity of the task.
The Yerkes-Dodson Law
states that, for simple tasks, performance is
best when the tonic arousal is high;
for complex tasks, performance is best when the
tonic arousal is lower.
For example, complicated mathematical reasoning is
best done in a state of relatively low arousal
compared with (say) calculating sums.
Similarly, washing a car is performed best in a
relatively higher state of arousal, compared with
(say) a police officer directing traffic.
In each of these comparisons, the amount of physical
exertion may be the same, but the increase the more
complex task is best done in a lower state of arousal.